Armand Dikranian

Learn about Florida Entrepreneur Armand Dikranian:

Even though Armand Dikranian, Founder of Footy Training, officially launched his soccer training app in December 2017, he was pondering the idea for quite some time. As an assistant coach for the women's soccer program at Florida State University, including the squad that won the 2014 National Championship, Dikranian identified the need for a player development platform that provided individualized training for soccer players at different levels of ability. "There may have been one or two soccer specific training apps out there but they were very basic," Dikranian said. "Our app is far from basic."

Development of the app took several years to come to fruition. Dikranian explained, "I anticipated it being a long process, but to make the product as extensive as I wanted it to be, it took a little longer than expected. We paid a lot of attention to the details of the video production, planning, editing and voice overs. A focus on the user experience was the second phase of development. I wanted a product that would be engaging enough to motivate someone to want to use it as much as possible. To do that, we made each feature of the app like a FIFA game just as much as a training program."

Dikranian sees Footy Training as a market disruptor and he's going from soccer club to soccer club with that message. "It's an easy pitch because there's really nothing else out there like it," hes said. He currently has 30 youth soccer clubs using his app with a goal to sign up as many clubs as possible. The model is to sell to the clubs who will then license out the app to their entire pool of players. Dikranian is utilizing his recruiting contacts and connections from FSU to go straight to the club directors and executives.

The current version of Footy Training is pretty extensive, with 31 professional players to choose from, 2-5 years worth of training curriculum, over 3,000 video demonstrations, 15,000 step by step photos, audio voice overs and setup diagrams. However, Dikranian envisions a future Footy Training app that's even more robust than it is today.

"We want a platform for technical development and one that gives users the ability to play against professional and National Team players and also against teammates similar to fantasy sports," he said. "We're adding a coaches platform to allow coaches to assign work to their players. They know what each individual player needs to work on. We're adding 9 more programs around physical, psycho-social and lifestyle that focus on sports psychology, nutrition, goal setting, leadership and college preparation. Each program will be made by expert in those fields. The final product will be a platform to help users improve more than just their technique."

Dikranian offers up some great advice for aspiring entrepreneurs looking to create an app. "Make sure you prepare and plan for every step" he said. "Be deliberate in your forward thinking and clearly envision what every step looks like in your mind. It's very important to be able to clearly articulate that to whoever is doing the coding. From the business side, you need to have a concept or an idea that you're passionate about and one that gives back to the community. My app is not a product to make money, it's a product to serve the soccer community and help give players a positive experience from playing the game."

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